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Bill to outlaw Georgia animal gas chambers nears passage

Georgia’s 10 remaining animal gas chambers would be outlawed under legislation that inched a step closer to passage Thursday morning.

Known as Grace’s Law for the mixed-breed dog that received news coverage for surviving the gas chamber at the Liberty County animal shelter, House Bill 788 won passage in the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee.

In 1990, the state outlawed new gas chambers but allowed any operating at the time to continue. Over the years, many of those have been dismantled, leaving only about 10 in operation today.

“Gas chambers are not pleasant,” said Linda Cordry, an animal-control officer in Liberty County and the woman who said Grace and takes care of her.

Most animals are destroyed with an injection, either into a vein, their abdomen or straight into the heart. But some witnesses told the committee that injecting a wild animal can be difficult and dangerous.

Gerri Yoder, director of Henry County Animal Control, told the committee that her office dealt with 13 animals with rabies last year and that getting medicine for her employees was impossible.

“To ask my staff to have to needle stick a rabid raccoon is unconscionable,” she said.

The House passed the bill 115-46 after a long debate March 16. If it passed in the full Senate, it will have to go back to the House for another vote because the committee Thursday added an amendment to remove the House’s prohibition against injections into an animal’s heart.